A local man has teamed up with the National City Police Department to collect blankets for children exposed to trauma.
Alex Gonzales said he came up with the idea after watching an Amber Alert end in a standoff on a San Diego freeway in December where a father took his two young boys hostage after allegedly killing their mother.
Gonzales said he thought, "What can we do to make these children feel safer? And it just came to me - blankies."
Gonzales said he came up with the idea for "Blankies for Kids" in less than 20 minutes and shared it with his son, a National City police officer. He then met with the Chief of Police and just started talking to people about what he was trying to do.
"Everybody has been a child or has a child and knows how comforting a blankie can be," he said. "It's security."
National City Police Sergeant Alex Hernandez said each patrol car has six blankies vacuum packed in zip-lock baggies in the trunk. It's up to the discretion of the officers to pass them out. The blankies are then replenished as they're used.
"This is such a simple idea, but such a great idea," Hernandez said.
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Because trauma is carried with a victim for the rest of their lives, Gonzales said he feels even the recipients of the blankies will at least have a small act of kindness to carry with them as well.
He said he wants to show children who have been through a traumatic experience to see there is a future and, "this is not life."
The community outpouring combined with the officers' participation is "closing the gap" between community and police, Gonzales said.
Gonzales said he's reaching out to other agencies, including fire rescue, and his personal commitment is to raise 1,000 blankies for National City.
Although the project is self-funded, Gonzales said, "This project is growing on its own," including donations by Disney Store employees he told about his venture.
"I'm surprised how successful it's becoming," Gonzales said. "There's a lot of good people and I'm finding that out as I'm talking to people...how much we want to contribute to each other. It's just, life get in the way and we forget and so somebody introduces a great idea and all of the sudden, it's just, boom. It just happens."
Anyone interested in donating blankies can drop off small, child-sized blankies at the National City Police Department at 1200 National City Blvd, National City, CA 91950. For more information, call (619) 336-4411 or click here.
